SJAS 2014 11 (1) 25-33
Vukonjanski J., Terek E., Gligorović B. Job satisfaction of men and women
trial sector and the job satisfaction of women in the economy. Difference exists in the following sizes: JS1 – Pay, JS2 – Promotion, JS4 – Fringe Benefits, JS5 – Contingent Rewards, JS8 – Nature of Work. In all the five cases, job satisfaction in industrial sector is higher at men than at women. This can be seen from the average values of the observed dimensions of job satisfaction between men and women in the manufacturing sector. Thus, at most dimensions of job satisfaction in industrial sector, men are more satisfied with their work. A significant number of references examine the differences in job satisfaction between men and women. The results vary in a wide range. Some pieces of research suggest that there are differences in job satisfaction between men and women (Bokemeier and Lacy, 1987; Choi, 2013). The largest number of studies, for example (D'Arcy et al., 1984; Groot and Maassen van den Brink, 2000), shows that women are more satisfied with their job than man. This is generally interpreted in the way that women have less ambitions and expectations, in the business sphere, than man. On the other hand, a small amount of research shows that men are more satisfied with their job than women (Jung et al., 2007; Chiu, 1998; Lindorff, 2011). This result is obtained in this paper. In this case, for the conditions in Serbia, this can be explained by a significant margin results for the dimension of organizational culture – gender egalitarianism, between the actual state and the state how it should be (Vukonjanski et al., 2012). Unfortunately, in manufacturing sector women are not completely equal with men, and this is reflected in the fact that men are more encouraged to professional development than women; fewer women are in authoritative positions. This situation leads to the decreased job satisfaction among women in industrial sector. In addition, for an explanation of this situation, it is necessary to consider the particular dimension which, apparently, is the key in this case, and this is the dimension JS8 – Nature of Work. The Nature of the work in manufacturing sector is such that it often requires full-time working hours, often working long hours, working on weekends, holidays. In addition, in industrial sector there are more changes that require additional work, further learning, and that brings a new loss of time and additional stress. This is especially true for women who, in such circumstances, usually sacrifice their careers and their work, to a greater extent, because of taking care of their family. The logical consequence is that men tend to have an advantage in manufacturing sec-
tor; they progress faster in their job, given that, in most cases, they have more time for business and career. As a result, men are often better able to be paid more, to get a promotion, additional privileges and be rewarded. Therefore, men are more satisfied, with the nature of the work in industrial sector, and other dimensions, as listed above. Based on the results obtained by t-test, shown in Table 3, we can see that in two (of nine) dimensions of job satisfaction, there was a statistically significant gap between job satisfaction among men in education and job satisfaction of women in education. Differences exist in the following sizes: JS3 –Supervision, JS8 – Nature of Work. In both cases, job satisfaction in education is higher at women than at men. This can be seen from the average values of the observed dimensions of job satisfaction between men and women in education. Given that, at a small number of dimensions of job satisfaction, there is a greater job satisfaction of women than men in education. These results have some similarities with the results of the research in Cyprus, where it was determined that the gender of the teacher has no effect on his/her job satisfaction (Eliophotou Menon and Athanasoula-Reppa, 2011). However, the results, obtained in this study, are also consistent with the studies that confirm that women are more satisfied with a job in education (Ladebo, 2005; Ghazi and Maringe, 2011). In education there is a balance between job satisfaction between men and women. While there are five statistically significant differences of job satisfaction in manufacturing sector, such differences in education occur only in the two dimensions of job satisfaction. As it was expected, women are more satisfied with the nature of the work in education. Women employed in the education sector feel accomplished by their professional work; they are doing a respectable job, have more time for their family and do not feel they should contribute financially more to the family. In addition, women are more satisfied with the dimension JS3 – Supervision. A possible explanation is that men in education are following the work of the school principal, because they are more interested in some of the organizational and managerial aspects of the school, and therefore, they have the opportunity to spot a situation with which they are not satisfied. At the same time, women in education, simply because they are satisfied with the nature of their work, pay less attention to the work of the principal and supervision. 31